Pages

Monday, 15 February 2016

Some further thoughts on the Hagal-Hail rune

Two versions of this rune are below. The 'Star of Life' Hagal version holds important meanings for me - however the Anglo-Saxon Haegl version is just as important and holds both Life and Death, Male and Female aspects too. Notice there are still six arms - they are just arranged differently. The number six is important within this rune as the rune is connected to the word Hex.

Hagal (Hayal-Hail) Haegl

The six pointed Hagal-Hail version represents the Ice crystal - the Krystall. It is the Hag-All and Heil rune and appears as the 'health' symbol 'Star of Life'. This rune also represents the Seven Worlds as viewed by our Saxon ancestors. Unlike the Norse folk, the Saxons only had seven worlds in their cosmological belief. This is represented as the Hagal-Hail rune with its six points and the seventh point being the sacred centre where all the arms meet.

The Seven Worlds as seen by the Saxons

In regards to the Haegl rune - we find a interesting version carved onto the handle of the Thames Scramasax (Seax of Beagnoth). We can see from the rune (pictured below) how the diagonals join the tips of the two upright staves. In this rune version we see the nature of Hail rune as an ice-crystal rune (as is the Hagal rune style) as we can see a rune binding between two Lagu runes - Lagu being a 'water' rune. Now two are bound together forming a solid - which is the nature of ice.

In this style of the rune (pictured below) I've changed the direction of one diagonal. I saw this rune whilst meditating and I don't know if there any examples of its use? The rune is a binding in one aspect - something which was clear to me as I envisioned the rune. It is a Thorn rune and Haegl rune.

Haga (?)

The two runes do in fact go very well together! If we look at the Anglo-Saxon words for Hawthorn we see that it comes from the word Hagaþorn, which evolved from Hæguþorn. Haga and Hæg are the roots of the words Hagal, Haegl, Hag (witch), Haw etc. So there is a clear connection between the Hawthorn (Haga) and Hagal. As I have posted before - many Germanic warriors are depicted with Hagal runes on their shields. It is clearly a sign for protection. It is from the word Hegcs, which is the root of Hex that we get the word Hedge - which traditionally was the Hawthorn tree, grown around a property or field to provide protection. The Hawthorn is also called the Witches tree - no doubt because of the root word Hag!